National Identity Scheme Relaunched
Article published: Tuesday, August 18th 2009
Home Secretary Alan Johnson recently re-launched the National Identity Scheme with the unveiling of a newly designed ID card.
The announcement came as part of the build-up to the Manchester trial, now due to start in the New Year. The government hope this will prove a success and be rolled out across the rest of the country in 2011 or 2012.
The Manchester launch date has already been put back from the autumn to January. Some say this is indicative of a scheme regularly hit by setbacks. It has already gone from compulsory to voluntary and many say the cost of the scheme is spiraling out of control.
Speaking to the BBC, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said the government had signed contracts worth £1bn before last month’s U-turn on the cards, which are no longer compulsory.
“Alan Johnson today launches a wing-and-a-prayer scheme based on the hope that people across the North West will sign up for a glossy ID card, and send a message to their counterparts in other parts of the country that the ID card is the hottest property since Susan Boyle,” said Mr Grayling.
“The government has already wasted £200m that we cannot afford.
“The scheme will cost hundreds of million pounds more, even if the cards are voluntary. It is time this scheme was completely scrapped.”
The card will cost individuals £30 and looks similar to a UK driving licence. However, it holds more data, including two fingerprints, which, as campaigners point out, you only have to give if charged with a crime at present.
North West NO2ID supremo Dave Page said “What they’re keeping quiet is that once you are on that database, you can never come off it. From the moment you’re registered you’ll have to tell the authorities of any change in your circumstances for the rest of your life – and pay whatever fees they ask for the ‘service’.”
NO2ID campaigns co-ordinator Sabina Frediani said the North West was being made an “ID card guinea pig”.
The group have arranged a series of counter demonstrations and events for October.
Tim Hunt
More: Manchester, News
Comments
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actually, you don’t have to be charged with a crime to be fingerprinted. it is enough to be arrested. that’s how my prints and dna were taken: arrested and ID-processed though never charged. my letters to the chief inspector at the police station about this have all remained unanswered.
Comment by fingerprinted on August 18, 2009 at 1:51 pm
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